Review 106: Peter Pan (2003)

Peter Pan is a beautifully made, enchanting and exciting fantasy adventure and a superbly well round version of the well known Peter Pan story the whole family can enjoy.

Based on the novel and play Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie, In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling (Rachel Hurd-Wood) mesmerizes her brothers John (Harry Newell) and Michael (Freddie Popplewell) every night with bedtime stories of swordplay, swashbuckling and the fearsome Captain Hook (Jason Isaacs). But the children becomes the heroes of an even greater story, when Peter Pan (Jeremy Sumpter) flies into their nursery one night and leads them over moonlit rooftops through a galaxy of stars and to the lush jungles of Neverland. Wendy and her brothers join Peter and the Lost Boys in an exhilarating life - free of grown-up rules - while also facing the inevitable showdown with Hook and his bloodthirsty pirates.

In a lot of ways this film is a much more mature take on Peter Pan than any preceeding adaptation before it. The idea of Peter's immortality and unending youth are put centre stage. As Roger Ebert rather eloquently stated in his print review "To be Peter Pan is fun for a day or a year, but can it be fun forever? Peter is trapped in Groundhog Day, repeating the same adventures, forever faced with the tiresome Capt. Hook, always shackled to Tinker Bell, who means well but would get on your nerves if you took a three-day bus trip with her."

Co-writer/director P. J. Hogan and screenwriter Michael Goldenberg don't shy away from the original books 

Whilist also retaining a sense of whimsy, wonder, joy and adventure.

The relationship between Peter and Wendy is also examined closely. It's clear that Peter longs for a normal relationship with a girl

Wendy is beginning to grow up and is developing feelings of romance for
whereas she is the first girl that Peter has laid eyes on
which makes their attraction to each other feel completely natural.

P. J. Hogan’s direction is sensitive, the cinematography is beautiful and captures the beauty of both Edwardian London and Neverland, the production design (creating Edwardian London and Neverland) is stupendous and rich with texture and detail which helps to make both settings distinct, the score by James Newton Howard is beautifully enchanting & whimsical, the costumes are majestic, the props are excellently crafted, the . The flying sequences are outstanding

In this film all the kids are terrific actors who slip into their roles as seamlessly as thought they were slipping on a pair of brand new gloves. Jeremy Sumpter and Rachel Hurd-Wood are fantastic in their respective roles as Peter and Wendy.
In particular, Hurd-Wood is this films MVP, she beautifully encapsulates Wendy's innocence, her caring and motherly nature, her imaginative, dreamy mind as

Jason Isaacs (in a duel performance of all things) is simply splendid in this film. Playing both the villainous Captain Hook as well as George Darling, the Darling's father.

I also have to give praise to Olivia Williams as Mary Darling who beautifully captures the maternal, nurturing demeanor